The Many Doctors
by AudeliaMarlowe
Summary: The TARDIS brings the Lumley!Doctor and the Master to meet a crowd of copies of the Doctor! The Time Lords must combine their efforts to save time and reality and defeat the Daleks. This story brings all non-canon doctors into canon!


The blonde woman rolled over in bed, and then suddenly woke up. Where was Koschei? He wasn't next to her.

Her question was answered when her dark-haired companion walked into the room with two mugs of tea, and sat down on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.  
>"Never better! Why do you ask?'<br>"You've just been a little weak lately. And you've been asleep for at least fourteen hours. I was starting to worry! Tea?"  
>"Thank you." she said, taking one of the mugs from him. "I had no idea. I guess I was just exhausted. I did have crazy dreams though."<br>"About what?"  
>"That's true love, actually being interested in what your partner dreams about." She giggled. "It was all about that Earth show EastEnders. I'm afraid I don't remember much about it now, except that I was a man again." She looked down at her lap and sighed.<br>"Dearest Theta, you shouldn't worry about what you look like on the outside. It is beautiful, that's true, but inside you're the same old Doctor I've always loved." He kissed her, then stood up. "Come to the console room. My TARDIS has been acting up a bit. I figure you'll be able to understand what it's doing, seeing as how your old junk-heap stayed running for so long."  
>"Hey, I'm sure Sexy is still just fine. I'll go back for her eventually."<br>"Right," said the Master, kissing his Doctor again on the top of her head. "But for now you're with me."

In the console room, Theta saw what he was talking about. The scanner was flashing, the middle column was pulsing wildly, and a loud beeping noise was coming from somewhere she couldn't find. "This is more than just 'acting up!' Why didn't you come get me sooner!"  
>The Master looked embarrassed. "I... just didn't want to bother you while you were sleeping. You looked so peaceful."<br>She glared at him. "Koschei, what part of 'no special treatment just because I'm a woman this time' don't you understand?"  
>"I know, I know, sorry!" He backed off and let his darling Doctor get to work on the TARDIS.<br>After a few minutes the beeping stopped. It took her a bit longer to get everything else under control, dashing about between all the levers and dials. "There," she said, dropping a wrench on the ground and putting her hands on her hips. "I fixed it."  
>"Thank you!" He moved in to kiss her, but she pushed him off.<br>"Not now. We seem to have landed. I want to see what's out there." The Doctor flipped on the now-functional scanner, and the two Time Lords were shocked to see what awaited them outside.  
>In a vast green field, about thirty blue police boxes had gathered. Their occupants, men and a few women of all sizes and colors, were either milling about awkwardly or just opening their TARDIS doors to see what was going on.<br>The Doctor gasped. "That's me! And that one... I was only him for five minutes! Give me your coat, Koschei. I need to see what all this is about."  
>Stunned, the Master handed over his coat and the two of them stepped outside to join the party.<p>

Normally, stepping out of a TARDIS gets some odd looks. And, crazily enough, the Master's functional chameleon circuit had disguised his ship as a police box after sensing their surroundings. The Doctor and Master wanted to laugh, but this was just too weird. Nobody seemed to notice their arrival, as they were all stunned anyway.  
>The female doctor walked up to another blonde woman, who was wearing a khaki coat with epaulets. "Hi there! I'm the Doctor. And I'm guessing you are, too. Any idea what's going on?"<br>They shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Doctor. And you're right, of course. All our TARDISes have brought us here. I don't recognize everybody, but I know they're all me."  
>"And you're me in the future? I'm a woman, again!"<br>The second female Doctor shook her head. "No, you're in my future. I was never you. And trust me, I'd remember."  
>"How is that..." began the first, and then they realized at the same time.<br>"Multiple dimensions!" they said in unison.  
>The Master walked up to them. "Sorry to intrude, but if there's so many of you how come there's only one of me?"<br>"Don't know," said his Doctor with a smile. "Maybe it's just because I'm so much more important than you."  
>He grunted in response. "I'll be in our TARDIS," he said, then started off back to their ship. "Wait... which one is it?"<br>The two female Doctors laughed at him as he sat down on the ground, leaning on the side of one of the many blue boxes.  
>"Okay," said the Doctor in khaki. We need to get our minds together. So many clever Time Lord brains, we've got to be able to figure out why we all broke through dimensions to meet up in a field."<br>"Right," said the first one. "HEY DOCTORS! All of you... I mean, me... come over here and let's work this out."  
>The others looked up, stopping their likely similar conversations andor sonic screwdriver-ing of the grass. All of them shrugged, then got together in a big group.  
>"Okay!" said one with a pointy face and grey sideburns. "What's the meaning of all this?"<br>"Yeah!" said another, "Is this the Master's doing? I see you over there, Koschei!"  
>"This is a nightmare," mumbled the Master, his hands covering his face.<br>"No, it's not him," said a Doctor with dark skin. "I know it's not. Think, everyone!" He pointed at another Doctor. "I used to be you. But you're here. And this one," he continued, pointing to the pointy-faced Doctor, "used to be me. But I didn't regenerate when he said that we did. Make sense?"  
>The others nodded, as the Master groaned. His Doctor spoke. "I know! She and I worked it out," she nodded to the other blonde woman. "It's multiple dimensions. Maybe every time we regenerate, reality splits. One of us gets the new body, and the other stays the same. Two options, both correct. Wibbly wobbly..."<br>"...Timey wimey!" finished thirty voices.  
>"That makes sense!" cried one of the Doctors, a handsome one that the female recognized. "And it explains why I've been feeling so bad lately. We're being stretched too thin, like making a photocopy of a photocopy. Eventually we'll all be too weak to do anything more than stay in bed."<br>"Do you think so?" asked the dark-skinned Doctor. "I have been feeling a little off these days."  
>"I know that's it," said another. "I hadn't really noticed the weakness until you mentioned it, but you're right. I've been sleeping a lot more than usual."<br>"So what are we gonna do about it?" said the woman in khaki. "This can't go on. We need a way to combine ourselves back into one Doctor. If we're feeling weak, imagine what time itself is doing. We're just a symptom."  
>The woman in pajamas and her Master's coat shivered, suddenly realizing what was happening. Some outside force was breaking time and reality apart into tiny chunks, keyed to the Doctor's regeneration. What enemy held the power to do such a thing? She couldn't know.<br>She took a breath and spoke up again. "We'll connect the TARDISes together. And then... I've got another idea, but you're not going to like it."  
>"What is it?" asked the pointed face.<br>"We all have to die. Quickly, without finishing regeneration. The regeneration energy will combine with our TARDISes, and bring all the dimensions together in one blast."

"But what if we stay dead?"

"Then the world will never know about the last time the Doctor saved the universe."

The Master stood up. "What? You can't?"

His Doctor just handed him a sonic screwdriver and told him to get to work.

With so many Time Lords working on the problem, all the TARDISes except the Master's were connected in record time. Cables snaked their way through the grass, weaving in and out TARDIS doors. After a couple of hours, one Doctor placed a finished bomb in the middle of the field. Wordlessly, they all joined hands around it in a circle. The TARDISes formed another circle around them. The Master imagined that from the air, they'd look like one of the circular Gallifreyan writings of their homeland.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

His Doctor nodded. "We have to. Get in your TARDIS. You'll be safe there.

He could only follow her directions. He locked himself in his ship and watched from the monitor.

The bomb exploded, and the Master felt the shock. Sparks of energy flew in the air and reality seemed to ripple around them. He felt a twinge of pain between his eyes, and blinked. In an instant he was lying on a rocky battlefield, back on Gallifrey.

It must have worked, he realized. That Doctor of his... there was no one more clever. But where was she? He?

It was dark, and the field was bloody. But then came familiar, growling voices. "Doc-tor!" It was a Dalek. How many of them were there? Where were they?

Memories he'd never lived came flooding into the Master's brain. This was what was happening in the "real" reality while he was off having adventures with his beloved Theta. The Time Lords and the Daleks were in a massive time war. He had to admit, the splintering of time and reality was a brilliant strike for the Daleks. As he began to regenerate, he smiled, knowing the true genius of his Doctor.

The Doctor woke up across the field from the Master. He was a man again, and all in one piece. His mind, too, was flooded with memories of the Time War, but also from every adventure he'd had in all of his lives. He was the same Doctor, in every reality.

He was still recovering from the shock when the Dalek approached.

"Doc-tor! You have ruined our plan!"

"What did you expect!" He yelled. You'll never beat me. You will never destroy the Time Lords, or time itself."

"That's what you think, Doc-tor!" And for once, the Dalek shot him, straight in the chest.

He was blown backwards into a wall. No, not a wall. A door. A blue door; the door to his TARDIS. Somehow, improbably, he found his key and made it inside. He slapped the console and as the ship took off, he sunk to the floor and gave in to the pain.

He knew that he was regenerating again. It felt like death, and after what had happened earlier, he didn't think he could take it.

The TARDIS landed. He knew that it was probably back on Earth, in England, its now-permanent default setting ever since the chameleon circuit had gotten stuck. England was safe. He took a breath and felt the odd sensation of new teeth yet again. He ran his hands through his hair, short this time. And big ears...

He didn't even want to see his face. He'd go out and walk around the city for a while. He stepped outside, locking the door behind him. He sniffed the air. It was London, of course. It was time for a walk.

Maybe he'd find a nice department store to walk around; enjoy the delightfully artificial air conditioning. There was nothing bad here.


End file.
